(Jan. 8, 2018) In a move that might affect close to half of the estimated 3,000 Salvadorans living and working on Nantucket, the Trump administration today terminated a temporary immigration status that had been in effect since 2001.

A press release from the office of Kirstjen Nielsen, recently-appointed secretary of Homeland Security, said the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) policy for El Salvador will end on Sept. 9, 2019. Salvadorans who are now covered under TPS will face deportation after that date.

U.S. Rep. William Keating (D-Mass.) said there are bipartisan talks going on in Congress which might package policy for undocumented immigrants with increased border security. Such a package might balance TPS and DACA – the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which is set to expire in March – with funding for the border wall between the USA and Mexico.

“We have to act quickly in the window that is there now,” Keating said. “I think it’s important to look at all of these issues and find a bipartisan solution. That is our best chance to cobble together enough votes to get this done. I’m afraid there will be politics going back and forth. It might entail tradeoffs and trying to find common ground.”

El Salvador was given TPS under President George W. Bush in March 2001, in the wake of two devastating earthquakes: The first in January measured 7.6 on the Richter scale, the second in February registered a 5.6 magnitude. The earthquakes left 1,100 people dead and 2,500 missing, and damaged or destroyed 220,000 homes, according to the Catholic Immigration Network.

The Department of Homeland Security press release said that Nielsen ended the TPS status for El Salvador because she determined that the conditions caused by those earthquakes no longer exist. There was no mention of the rise in gang activity, which several years ago led to the designation of El Salvador as the murder capital of the world.

Temporary Protected Status covers nearly 5,000 El Salvadorans statewide, according to a letter from Gov. Charlie Baker to the Department of Homeland Security. It estimates that there are 4,200 children who were born in Massachusetts to El Salvadoran parents who are TPS-holders.

“El Salvador and Honduras are ranked among the most violent countries in the world and struggle with grinding poverty and gang activity,” the letter said. “It is estimated that El Salvadoran TPS-holders contribute $426 million each year to the Massachusetts economy.”

For complete coverage of this story, pick up Thursday's Inquirer and Mirror.

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